Friends of Sheridan Gorman have come forward with raw, detailed testimonies that reconstruct the final minutes of the 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago freshman’s life on the Tobey Prinz Beach pier. In separate interviews conducted over the past seven days, two of the three surviving friends — who have asked to be identified only as Alex and Jordan to protect their privacy during the ongoing murder investigation — described the ordinary college outing that ended in gunfire. Their accounts, cross-checked against police reports and 911 call transcripts, offer the clearest picture yet of what unfolded shortly after 1 a.m. on March 20, 2026. A third friend, Taylor, has not yet spoken publicly but provided a written statement to investigators that aligns closely with the others. Together, these testimonies form the core of the prosecution’s case against 25-year-old Jose Medina and have become central to the public conversation surrounding the tragedy.

Alex, Sheridan’s roommate and closest confidante, began her interview by recalling how the evening started with a simple group chat message. “Sheridan texted us around 12:45 a.m.,” Alex said, her voice steady but eyes distant. “She wrote, ‘Northern Lights might be visible tonight. Pier? Skyline pics? Who’s in?’ We all replied yes within minutes. It was cold, but we were excited. Sheridan was always the one organizing little adventures like this. She said life in the dorm was too quiet and we needed to make memories.” The four friends — Sheridan, Alex, Jordan, and Taylor — met outside the dorm at approximately 12:55 a.m. They walked the familiar route along the Loyola campus paths toward Tobey Prinz Beach Park, less than a mile away. According to Alex, the conversation was light and typical for first-year students: plans for spring break, complaints about upcoming exams, and Sheridan’s stories about missing her younger brother back in Yorktown Heights, New York. “She kept laughing about how she wanted to take him bowling again when she went home for Easter,” Alex remembered. “She was smiling the entire walk. That smile never left her face until the very end.”

Jordan, a theater major who had only known Sheridan for a few months, echoed the same easy atmosphere in his testimony to detectives and later to reporters. “We reached the beach entrance around 1:10 a.m.,” he stated. “The pier was empty. The water was calm, and you could see the Chicago skyline glowing across the lake. Sheridan led the way, phone in hand, already snapping photos. She said something like, ‘This is going to be perfect for my Instagram story.’ We were all joking about whether the Northern Lights would actually appear or if it was just another false alarm from the weather app.” The group walked single file along the narrow wooden pier, Sheridan in front, followed by Alex, then Jordan, with Taylor at the rear. They stopped near the lighthouse at the end of the pier to lean against the railing and admire the view. Jordan noted in his police interview that the security lighting was dim but sufficient to see outlines. “We were there maybe five or six minutes,” he said. “No one else was around. It felt peaceful.”

The turning point came suddenly, and every friend’s testimony converges on the exact sequence. Alex was the first to describe Sheridan’s reaction in vivid detail. “Sheridan froze,” Alex recounted. “She was looking toward the base of the lighthouse and whispered, ‘Guys… there’s someone there.’ Then she said it louder, more urgently: ‘There’s a man hiding behind the lighthouse. He’s wearing all black and a mask. We need to go — now!’ Her voice wasn’t screaming yet, but it was sharp. She pointed directly at the spot.” Jordan confirmed the same words almost verbatim in his separate interview. “Sheridan’s exact warning was, ‘There’s a man hiding behind the lighthouse! He’s wearing a mask! We need to go right now!’ I turned and saw the figure step out. He was dressed in dark clothing from head to toe, face covered. He moved slowly, with what looked like a slight limp.”

According to both friends’ statements to Chicago Police Department detectives, the masked man did not immediately fire. For a brief moment — estimated by the group at three to five seconds — he stood visible. Then, as the four students turned to run back down the pier, he spoke. Alex described the voice as low and angry. “He said, ‘Get the hell out of here!’ It wasn’t a shout exactly, but it was clear and directed at us. It sounded like a command mixed with rage. Right after that, we heard the gunshot.” Jordan’s testimony added a crucial layer: “I was running beside Taylor when I heard the man yell those words — ‘Get the hell out of here!’ — and then the single loud crack of the gun. There was only one shot. No more. Sheridan had been at the back of our group because she waited that extra second to make sure we were all moving. She was always looking out for everyone else.”

The medical examiner’s report, referenced in court filings and consistent with the friends’ accounts, shows the bullet struck Sheridan in the upper back and exited through her neck. She collapsed immediately onto the wooden planks. Alex’s description of the immediate aftermath is particularly harrowing. “She made a short sound — like a gasp, not even a full scream — and fell forward,” Alex said. “We ran a few more steps out of pure panic, then realized she wasn’t with us. We turned back screaming her name. Jordan and I dropped down beside her. There was blood everywhere. I kept pressing my hands on the wound and yelling, ‘Sheridan, stay with us! Sheridan, please!’ Taylor was on the phone with 911, giving the location over and over.” Jordan added that Sheridan’s eyes were open but unresponsive. “She was gone within seconds,” he told investigators. “We were shaking her, trying to keep pressure on her neck, but it was too late. The paramedics arrived fast, but the officer on scene pronounced her dead at 1:47 a.m.”

In their formal statements taken at the police station later that morning, the friends emphasized there had been no prior interaction, no robbery attempt, and no argument. Taylor’s written account, shared with prosecutors, stated: “We did nothing to provoke him. Sheridan simply noticed someone hiding and warned us. We ran. He told us to get the hell out of here and then shot her as we were fleeing.” Detectives noted that the testimonies were consistent across all three friends, even though they were interviewed separately. Surveillance footage from nearby cameras captured the group’s arrival and the suspect’s distinctive gait as he fled the scene, corroborating the friends’ description of the limp and dark clothing.

The emotional weight of these testimonies extends far beyond the facts of the shooting. In follow-up conversations this week, Alex reflected on the psychological toll. “Every night I replay her warning in my head,” she said. “She saved us by speaking up first. If she hadn’t spotted him and told us to run, all four of us might not be here. But she paid for that with her life.” Jordan described the guilt that now haunts the group. “We keep asking ourselves why we went out that night,” he explained. “But Sheridan was the one who made college feel alive. She turned a boring Thursday into something special. Her last words were about protecting us, and we will carry that forever.”

The friends have also detailed their interactions with law enforcement in the hours and days after the incident. Alex recalled being wrapped in a blanket at the scene while still in shock. “I told the first officers exactly what Sheridan said and what the man yelled back,” she stated. “They asked me to repeat it three times. I described the mask, the black clothes, the way he stepped out deliberately. I wasn’t crying yet — the tears came later in the squad car.” Jordan mentioned providing a sketch-like description that helped identify Medina quickly. “They showed us photos later, and I recognized the limp immediately,” he said. “The way he moved when he came out from behind the lighthouse matched what I saw.”

These detailed statements played a direct role in the rapid arrest. Medina was taken into custody on March 22 at an apartment near the beach. Court documents cite the friends’ consistent descriptions of the suspect’s clothing, gait, and the exact phrase he uttered as key evidence. Prosecutors have not yet released audio of the 911 call or body-camera footage, but they have confirmed the testimonies align with physical evidence recovered at the scene, including shell casings and blood-spatter patterns.

Beyond the legal proceedings, the friends’ accounts have shaped how the public understands the tragedy. In a joint written statement released through their attorney, the three survivors wrote: “Sheridan Gorman was not in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was living a normal college life with friends near her own campus. She saw danger and tried to protect us. The man who stepped out, told us to get the hell out of here, and fired that single shot made a choice that night. We will keep telling her story exactly as it happened so that her courage is never forgotten.”

The testimonies have also surfaced in community vigils and online memorials. At a gathering near Loyola’s campus on March 25, Alex spoke briefly to attendees, repeating parts of her police statement. “Sheridan’s voice warning us is the last thing I hear before I fall asleep,” she told the crowd. “And the man’s response — those four words — is what I hear in my nightmares.” Similar sentiments appear in Jordan’s private messages to Sheridan’s family, which the family later shared with permission: “Your daughter died protecting her friends. Her exact words were clear and brave. We owe it to her to make sure the truth of that night is known.”

As the case moves forward, with Medina facing first-degree murder charges and additional counts of attempted murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm, the friends continue to cooperate fully with investigators. They have reviewed enhanced surveillance images and confirmed details in multiple follow-up interviews. Each time, they return to the same core elements: Sheridan’s alert, the masked man’s emergence, his verbal command, and the single gunshot that ended her life.

In one of the most poignant moments of her interview, Alex addressed the broader questions the testimonies have raised. “People keep asking if we felt unsafe on campus before,” she said. “The honest answer is no. Sheridan made everywhere feel safe because she was so full of life. That pier was supposed to be a place for college memories, not for hiding in the dark with a gun. Her final act was to warn us, and we will spend the rest of our lives honoring that by speaking the truth about what we saw and heard.”

Jordan closed his own account with a quiet promise. “Sheridan’s last words on that pier were about danger and getting away. The man’s reply was to tell us to leave and then make sure one of us never could. We have told the police everything — every detail, every sound, every second. Now the world needs to hear it too, so no one forgets what really happened when four freshmen went looking for Northern Lights and found something else instead.”

The friends’ collective testimonies — meticulous, consistent, and emotionally raw — have become the definitive record of Sheridan Gorman’s final moments. They describe not only the mechanics of a sudden, violent encounter but also the character of a young woman who chose to speak up and protect others even as danger appeared. As the legal process unfolds and the national conversation around the case intensifies, these firsthand accounts remain the most powerful evidence of what occurred on the pier that cold March night. Through their words, Sheridan’s friends ensure that her courage, her warning, and the response that followed will not fade into silence.